Greetings Family and Friends,

The World Cup in Inzell, Germany had it's ups and downs, literally, this weekend for Casey.  Casey is feeling better this week and felt good and zippy in warm up on friday before his 1000m race.

FRIDAY - 1000m...oops!

Casey was paired with fellow American Chris Callis in the 1000m race.  He started out quick with a 200m split time of 16.68 seconds. A great start! Coming out of the second turn at 300m, Casey says he put his foot down and there was no grip to the ice. His foot and skate slid out from under him and he was down.  Casey fell, bang his knee abit, but got up and finished the race in a time of 2:45.0.  I talked with him later that day, and he was up beat okay with his fall. He said the last few pairs had alot of trouble with the wind and the ice breaking away. Times for the top guys were all over the board.  He was happy how he felt in warmup and glad to see such a great opening time.  He has one 1000m race left in Herenveen this next weekend and needs to do well to qualify for the World Single Distance Championships in Korea in March.  Three American skaters qualify, and Casey is fighting for that third spot!  So keep your prayers coming.

SATURDAY - 500m

The headline this morning on my email read...."Casey FitzRandolph (Verona, Wis.) reached the podium on Saturday at the World Cup event in Inzell, Germany." I was ecstatic!  I received several emails from Jeff and Ruthie!  Wow!  I couldn't wait to talk with Case to congradulate him!  This is the first time since the olympic year he's been on the podium!  Third place, we'll take it! Casey tied Canada's Mike Ireland (training partner) for third place in the men's 500-meters with a time of 35.82 seconds. Casey was quoted saying..."One of my goals for this season was to get back on the podium. It felt nice to do that, especially after falling yesterday(friday)." U.S. Coach Ryan Shimabukuro was also pleased to see Casey rebound from Friday's fall.  "It was great to see Casey bounce back from his fall

yesterday and win his first medal this season," Shimabukuro said. "He took his time in this race to stay relaxed and use his technique, which worked really well."  When I talked with Casey on the phone, he sounded relaxed and up beat! I could hear him smiling.  Very nice to hear in his voice. He has his confidence back! 

SUNDAY - 500m

Casey was paired again today with Obara from Japan.  He had a solid opener.  He placed eighth with a time of 35.51 seconds. A great improvement from Saturday's time.  I haven't talked with Casey today, they were leaving after races for Munich and then onto Herenveen for the next world cup. I will talk with him later this week.  He is sitting 10th overall in the world now in the 500m standings with potential to move into eighth! He has 2 more 500m world cup races this next week in Herenveen. So we'll have to see what happends!  The one thing that has been consistant in our phone conversations is his confidence of feeling stronger each weekend.  So if this weekend and a third place finish are any indication of things to come...we are in for an exciting last three weeks! Keep those prayers coming!

Jenn Fitz